New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)

Federal unemployment benefits have expired in New Mexico. What other benefits are still out there for people who are struggling economically during the pandemic? What's going to happen to renters? Gene talks to UNM Law Professor Serge Martinez, and Teague Gonzalez and Felipe Guevara of the NM Center on Law and Poverty. Correspondent Antonia Gonzales talks with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh a...

The Line opinion panel talks through the implications of the now-infamous flashing lights in the cockpit of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity ship during its maiden crewed voyage. The New Yorker magazine reported that the lights, which indicated the ship would deviate from its designated airspace, represented a major issue. Virgin Galactic disagreed, but the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the s...

The Line opinion panel takes a closer look at the implications of a predicted $1.4 billion surplus in the state’s next budget year. Lawmakers and the governor are already rolling out ideas to spend it, while others caution against yet another ratcheting up of the state’s baseline costs. The group weighs the likelihood that crime legislation – and funding – will be a centerpiece of the 2022 legisla...

Organizer and activist Kay Bounkeua is taking over for former legislative powerhouse Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, who resigned in the face of alleged financial improprieties. Believed to be the first Asian American woman to hold office in the Legislature, Bounkeua sits down with NMiF senior producer Matt Grubs to talk representation and redistricting. Plans for the SunZia Transmission Project h...

Two women have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court that argues a vaccine mandate for certain health care workers and for attendance at the New Mexico State Fair violates their constitutional rights. The lawsuit seeks to bar the mandate’s enforcement. Meanwhile, the state’s Youth Livestock Board has moved its annual competition to Roswell in an effort to sidestep the vaccine mandate, which impac...

Broadcast meteorologist Jorge Torres knows the weather of the American Southwest. He’s worked at television stations in El Paso and Albuquerque, and he’s now at ABC-15 in Phoenix, Arizona. He also understands the climate, and the importance of covering climate change and its impacts for local audiences. Unlike many stations nationwide, at ABC-15 Torres talks about climate change in his forecasts a...

Mask up! The nearly unrestrained rise in COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated people has led to the return of a mask mandate while indoors and which will remain in effect at least until September 15. The governor’s latest public health order also has new vaccine requirements for some people who work in health care and school settings. The Line opinion panel weighs the impact and the political implica...

Planning for the state’s newest industry, recreational cannabis, is speeding along in New Mexico. This week, we excerpt part of a recent conversation on our “Growing Forward” podcast, with Regulation and Licensing Department Superintendent Linda Trujillo, about the progress of rulemaking for cannabis producers. The Department will begin accepting applications in just a few weeks, but those rules a...

The Line opinion panel discusses the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, tied mostly to the rapid spread of the Delta variant. The group also explores the ongoing challenges of increasing the state’s vaccination rate. Even though New Mexico is doing better than many states, the overwhelmingly majority of new cases are among the unvaccinated. Timing is also crucial in this equation, as students across...

Kevin Ferrara, a retired U.S. Air Force firefighter, spoke to correspondent Laura Paskus from his home in Pennsylvania. Ferrara trained at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois in 1991 and was assigned to Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, N.M. until 1995. During that time, he and other firefighters used Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), now known to contain toxic chemicals that have contaminated local...

The ripples of the investigation into now former New Mexico Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton continue to expand. This week, The Line opinion panelists discuss her quick decision to resign her seat in the House of Representatives. Stapleton still denies her involvement in an alleged scheme to funnel nearly $1 million from Albuquerque Public Schools to accounts and businesses she controlled. In a...

This time on New Mexico in Focus, extended coverage of the federal government’s effort to document the truth about Native boarding schools. Interior secretary and former New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland announced the investigation this summer, on the heels of gruesome discoveries of mass graves at Canadian boarding school sites. Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with two Native leader...

The Line opinion panel offers reaction to the kickback scandal now enveloping state lawmaker Sheryl Williams Stapleton. Stapleton is the House Majority Floor Leader and has served in the Roundhouse for years. The current scandal, now under investigation by the Attorney General Hector Balderas involves her job with Albuquerque Public Schools. If the accusations are true, it could have wide-ranging...

Correspondent Gwyneth Doland sits down with UNM professor and author Eli Revelle Yano Wilson about his newest book “Front of the House, Back of the House.” The book examines how the restaurant industry often reinforces discrimination and societal class systems. New Mexico isn’t the only state trying to compel the U.S. military to clean up the waters it has polluted with toxic chemicals known as PF...

The Line opinion roundtable offers reactions and insight on the New Mexico Supreme Court’s recent decision that gas stations have a duty to refuse to sell fuel to drunk drivers. Under the ruling, businesses could be held liable if a drunk driver then injures someone. The NM Supreme Court made the decision in the wake of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed by an intoxicated...

Gene Grant explores UNM’s return to campus without a vaccination requirement. The administration hopes for 100 percent vaccination, but for now won’t force the issue. UNM Communications and Marketing chief Cinnamon Blair talks about “Bringing Back the Pack.” Political Science Professor Gabe Sanchez also joins the conversation to offer insight on why certain groups aren’t likely to seek the coronav...

New Mexico is aflutter with news of the first fully crewed Virgin Galactic flight from Spaceport America. Sir Richard Branson’s high-profile jaunt into weightlessness on July 11 drew massive attention to the purpose-built New Mexico facility. Will it soon also bring money? The Line opinion panel looks at successes and challenges as the state seeks to leverage the Virgin Galactic spotlight. Althoug...

Santa Fe's Rachel Kleinfeld is a Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the founder of The Truman Security Project. She's also a member on the National Task Force on Election Crises. We talked to Kleinfeld last October about her research and work on reducing the possibility of violence surrounding our elections. She also spent a few extra minutes with correspondent Russell...

Roberto Rosales is a photographer with the Albuquerque Journal and whether he’s shooting college sports, crime scenes, or dropping reservoir levels, his style is unique and recognizable. For decades, he’s also covered the border, shining a light on the personal stories of people who are crossing into the United States seeking safety and economic opportunity. Correspondent Laura Paskus spoke with R...

William Donahue of St. John’s College in Santa Fe sits down with NMiF senior producer Matt Grubs to talk about receiving the LeRoy Doggett Prize for his work in historical astronomy. The American Astronomical Society recently named Donahue as its winner for his contributions to the field. Donahue talks about why it’s important to study the science of the past, as well as his translations of works...

This week, New Mexico in Focus continues its in-depth look at the state’s newly legal recreational cannabis industry. While June 29 marked the day the law went into effect, the state says April 2022 is likely when stores will open. As New Mexico considers its rules and regulations, The Line opinion panel discusses the public-facing part of the effort. Growing Forward podcast hosts Megan Kamerick a...

Former Albuquerque Journal and Washington Post reporter Marie C. Baca has started a newsletter based on New Mexico’s social media scene. Gwyneth Doland chats with her about the new venture. The Line opinion panel discusses New Mexico’s seemingly permanent place near the bottom of an annual child well-being survey. According to the recently released Kids Count report, the state is no longer last in...

Covid-19 restrictions began shutting down our state in March 2020. Now, more than 15 months later, New Mexico is ready to reopen fully. New strains of the virus, including the Delta variant, are still a concern, urging some to call for caution. The Line opinion panel takes on the implications of the state’s full reopening, scheduled for July 1. The Line opinion panelists consider another important...

New Mexico's environmental regulators learned from the Air Force in 2018 that it had contaminated local waters with PFAS from fire fighting foams used at Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases. Since that time, the state has been sued by the U.S. Department of Defense for trying to compel the military to clean up that pollution--and in June, the Biden administration's DOD called New Mexico's attempts...

The Line opinion panel takes up a topic on everyone’s sweat-soaked brow this week: the unseasonably hot late-spring temperatures. Climate change and megafires to the west have combined to turn mid-June into a miserable slog for much of the state. With record-setting temperatures and prolonged drought conditions becoming the new normal, the question comes up as July 4th approaches: s...